Fixed-term employment increases significantly

A report issued by the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in September 2001 finds that fixed-term employment now represents 14% of all employment in Sweden, compared with 9% in 1990. In the first quarter of 2001, about 525,000 workers had some kind of fixed-term employment, mainly casual, stand-in and project work.

On 3 September 2001, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (Landsorganisationen, LO) released a report on 'employment forms and working time' in Sweden since 1990 (Anställningsformer och arbetstider 2001). The report is based on the Swedish Labour Force Surveys (Arbetskraftsundersökningarna, AKU).

Fixed-term work

On different forms of employment, the questions focused on by the researchers, Sven Nelander and Madeleine Bendetcedotter, included: How common are fixed term-jobs in the Swedish labour market? What has changed since the beginning of the 1990s? and How has the situation differed for different groups of workers?

The study finds that there are differences in the development of different types of fixed-term employment. Overall, the number of workers in fixed-term employment has increased by 150,000 workers between 1990 and 2001, with 525,000 people now having some kind of fixed-term employment, of whom about 310,000 are women. As a percentage of all employment, fixed-term employment has increased from 9% in 1990 to 14% in 2001. To compare, the number of persons in open-ended employment has declined from 3,642,000 in 1990 to 3,221,000 in 2001 - though it should be noted that the open-ended employment figure reached its lowest point in 1997 (at 2,999,000), since when the trend has been upwards.

'Stand-in' work, casual work and project work are the most common forms of fixed-term employment in Sweden. In the first quarter of 2001, the 525,000 workers in fixed-term employment were divided between 170,000 stand-in employees, 90,000 employed in projects, 120,000 in casual work, 80,000 in probationary employment, and a little more than 15,000 in seasonal work (for example during the winter season in the mountains).

Forms of fixed-term work

Casual employment (behovsanställning) is the most insecure kind of employment. The employer may call the worker involved early in the morning offering a job for the same day, for example. Therefore, says LO, it is a serious matter that this kind of employment has increased so much, from about 40,000 people in 1990 to 120,000 today. Blue-collar female workers are among those most frequently hired for casual jobs. They are often employed in hotels and restaurants, retail, building maintenance, transport and public healthcare, where casual work is common.

So-called project employment (projektanställning), whereby a worker is hired specifically to carry out a special project and the employment finishes when the project does, has also increased. This employment form has more than doubled, from 41,000 persons in 1990 to 88,000 in 2001.

Probationary employment (provanställning) has also increased in recent years, with the number of workers on a probationary period up to six months prior to possible open-ended employment increasing from 53,000 in 1990 to 80,000 in 2001.

Different groups

Among some groups within LO's mainly blue-collar membership, the increase in fixed-term employment has been even larger than the average increase. For example, among blue-collar female workers between the ages of 25 and 29, the fixed-term employment rate has increased from 15% to 30%, while the proportion of casual workers in this group has increased from 1% to 11%. The fixed-term employment rate among female workers aged 30-44 years has also increased. Overall, 17% of female workers in LO's field worked in fixed-term employment in 2000. This compares with 9% among female white-collar workers covered by the Confederation of Salaried Employees (Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO) and 15% among the female professionals covered by the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations (Sveriges Akademikers Centralorganisation, SACO).

There are strong connections between employment form, nation of birth and the length of stay in Sweden, the report finds. About 1 million inhabitants of Sweden were born in another country and another half million has at least one parent born abroad. The fixed-term employment rate for female LO workers born outside Scandinavia, who have lived in Sweden for less than nine years, is about 50%.

Working hours

The second part of the report deals with working hours, examining part-time work and changes in average working time. For female workers, changes in working hours since 1990 have been varied. Female white-collar workers within TCO have increased their average working time by two hours per week, whereas LO female workers have had about the same working time per week since 1990. This has also resulted in higher income gaps among women. Among the younger female LO workers, the group that is the lowest-paid, average working time has decreased by about three hours per week since 1990. The average weekly working hours for female LO members in 2000 was 32.5 hours, for female TCO members 36.4 hours and for female SACO members 37.8 hours.

Most of the decrease in working time for female LO workers occurred during the first part of the 1990s when the labour market situation declined dramatically. Since 1994, working time has increased by an average of one hour per week for female LO workers, including younger female workers.

As many as 46% of all female LO members in 2000 were employed in part-time jobs. For female TCO members the figure is 27% and for female SACO members 19%.

In comparing how working time changes because of family situations, a major difference is notable between male and female workers. Women obviously adjust their working time to their children, while the working time of male workers is hardly affected at all by whether there are children in the family or not. These findings of the report indicate that the traditional gender pattern is still very strong. For example, among LO members, 41% of lone mothers are part-time workers (the figure for single fathers is not possible to estimate, since their number is very small). Even many single women without children work part time (35%), whereas among single men few do so (9%). In family relationships with children aged up to six years, 54% of women work part time, compared with 7% for men. The total proportion of male LO workers in part-time jobs is 10%.

Allocation of working hours

As for the allocation of working time, the report finds that inconvenient and irregular working time is most usual among female LO members. Irregular hours are 10 times more common (43%) among female blue-collar workers than among professional female workers (4%). On the whole, since the beginning of the 1990s, all groups of LO workers and some groups of TCO workers have seen a considerable rise in inconvenient and irregular working hours. There has, however, been no rise of this kind for the professional workers covered by SACO.

The study also examines how many workers work less time than they would want, for labour market reasons. As many as 240,000 workers work less than they want, of whom 175,000 are women. One third of part-time female workers would like to work more than they do at present. LO members in hotels and restaurants, the municipalities, retail and building maintenance are especially affected. Non-voluntary part-time work is now an even greater problem for union members, and above all women, in these sectors than at the beginning of the 1990s.

Commentary

The situation all over Europe concerning fixed-term employment is similiar - it is increasing everywhere. The new LO report confirms that Sweden has a fairly high proportion of the labour force performing fixed-term work, at 14% compared with an average of 13% in the European Union (according to the European Commission's Employment in Europe report 2000).

There are, however, different kinds of fixed-term employment. For example, earlier research has shown that project workers have more influence over their work and better possibilities to receive education and personal development than other fixed-term workers. Casual workers are the least privileged group in this respect. It has been found, for example, by researchers at the University of Gothenburg that this kind of employment also more seldom leads to open-ended employment in Sweden.

However, almost every worker wants an open-ended employment relationship. Some people argue that young people do not want such permanence and enjoy flexibility, but that is said to be a myth - according to LO, many different surveys over the years show generally that almost everyone wishes to have a permanent job and the economic and social security involved. There are no differences between men and women in this aspect or between well educated and less well educated workers. Young people want a permanent job, as well as older workers.

It may also be noted that less employment security in working life may result in a lower number of births. In Sweden, fewer and fewer children are born. The fertility rate per woman in 2000 was 1.5 children, compared with 2.5 in 1962. To LO, it is clear that there is a connection here, even if there are other reasons as well.

The issue of different forms of employment, along with a number of working time issues, is currently being being examined by a government committee (SE0101176N). The issues related to fixed-term employment will not be easily resolved, as it appears that employers and employees have quite opposite interests to protect. (Annika Berg, Arbetslivsinstitutet)